Homeland Security wants sensitive info from corporate America

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The Department of Homeland Security has proposed a set of protective regulations aimed at luring US businesses into voluntarily sharing sensitive infrastructure data with the government. The government is particularly interested in weaknesses and potential flaws, hoping that access to such information might aid in averting attacks on corporate America. The "Procedures for Handling Critical Infrastructure Information" outlines how such sensitive information would be handled, stored, and protected. Worry not, corporate America, your data will be safe!

(b) Use and storage. During working hours, reasonable steps shall be taken to minimize the risk of access to Protected CII by unauthorized personnel. After working hours, Protected CII shall be stored in a secure container, such as a locked desk or file cabinet, or in a facility where Government or Government-contract security is provided.

Wow, I'm convinced. Such sensitive data will not be subject to Federal rules of disclosure, meaning that such data can remain private, proprietary information as long as the owners like. Even with that, the idea of disclosing such sensitive information isn't likely to go over well with businesses, many of which are more worried about corporate sabotage than terrorism per se. I can't help but giggle thinking about this development, because only yesterday it was announced that Nuala O'Connor Kelly will be the Department of Homeland Security's Privacy Czar. Rather than coming off a hot career in the ACLU or the EFF, Kelly is the former privacy officer of Internet advertising giant DoubleClick, perhaps the most embattled advertising agency ever when it comes to accusations of privacy violations. True, Kelly did help clean that situation up, but this does speak somewhat to the government's preemptory concerns over privacy matters.

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Ken Fisher
Ken is the founder & Editor-in-Chief of Ars Technica. A veteran of the IT industry and a scholar of antiquity, Ken studies the emergence of intellectual property regimes and their effects on culture and innovation. Emailken@arstechnica.com//Twitter@kenfisher